User blog:123chaseyoung/T.E. Lawrence vs Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
T.E. Lawrence: British commando who united the Arab tribes in a revolt to ovethrow their Ottoman oppressors vs Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck: German cavalier who took a ragtag battalion of Africans against the thriple might of Britsh, Belgian and Portuguese armies. It's a legendary fight to the death between two of World War I's greatest military commanders! Who waged guerilla war to annihalate their hated enemies! Who is dealiest!? T.E. Lawrence Born on August 16, 1888, Thomas Edward (T.E.) Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, was a British Army officer renowned especially for his liaison work during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule between 1916 and 1918. Lawrence studied history at Jesus College, graduating with First Class Honours and became a practicing archaeologist in the Middle East.Following the outbreak of World War I, he was co-opted by the British military to conduct a military survey of the Negev Desert. During the war, Lawrence fought alongside Arab irregular troops under the command of Emir Faisal, a son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca, in extended guerrilla operations against the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence obtained assistance from the Royal Navy to turn back an Ottoman attack on Yanbu in December 1916. Lawrence's major contribution to the revolt was convincing the Arab leaders (Faisal and Abdullah) to co-ordinate their actions in support of British strategy. He persuaded the Arabs not to make a frontal assault on the Ottoman stronghold in Medina but to allow the Turkish army to tie up troops in the city garrison. The Arabs were then free to direct most of their attention to the Turks' weak point, the Hejaz railway that supplied the garrison. This vastly expanded the battlefield and tied up even more Ottoman troops, who were then forced to protect the railway and repair the constant damage. Lawrence developed a close relationship with Faisal, whose Arab Northern Army was to become the main beneficiary of British aid. Lawrence was famous for his use of guerilla style warfare dubbed by historians as the "Phantom army", which was done by harassing and bombing key enemy posts such as trains, in an effort to divert enemy battalions to a different position, and launch an attack on the true objective. Lawrence applied this tactic at the Battle of Aqaba. Against a larger and more trained professional Turkish army, Lawrence used several raids on the train routes north of the position to trick the Turks into thinking he was going to attack Damascus. The Turks took the bait by launching a pursuit against the Bedouin raiders which left only a battalion to defend Aqaba and allowed Lawrence to take the strategic port city after a successful attack. Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (20 March 1870 – 9 March 1964) was a general in the Imperial German Army and the commander of its forces in the German East Africa campaign. For four years, with a force that never exceeded about 14,000 (3,000 Germans and 11,000 Africans), he held in check a much larger force of 300,000 British, Belgian, and Portuguese troops. Essentially undefeated in the field, Lettow-Vorbeck was the only German commander to successfully invade imperial British soil during the First World War. His exploits in the campaign have been described by Edwin Palmer Hoyt "as the greatest single guerrilla operation in history, and the most successful." Lettow-Vorbeck's plan for the war was quite simple: knowing that East Africa would only be a sideshow to the other theatres of war, he determined to tie down as many British troops as he could. He intended to keep them away from the Western Front, and in this way to contribute to Germany's eventual victory. In August 1914, during the early phases of the First World War, Lettow-Vorbeck was the commander of a small military garrison of just 2,600 German nationals and 2,472 African soldiers in fourteen Askari field companies. His most prized tactic, is divert and attacking his enemies. During the Battle of Tanga, Vorbeck came upon a British force eight times his battalion's size. Knowing that attacking head on was suicide, Vorbeck instead orders his troops on a retreat to the jungle. The British forces chased him, but unknown to them, Vorbeck has already divides his troops to envelop the British, who are now trapped inside the jungle. Vorbeck manages to push the British out and put huge numbers of casualties. X-Factors Experience: Lawrence: 76, Vorbeck: 87 Vorbeck had a colorful military career, ranging from the Boxer War to the Great War. Vorbeck fought more wars and more battles than the Britishman. During the War, Lawrence had a difficult time trying to get an assignment, and he spent much of his time being a deskman before his Arabian adventures. Training: Lawrence: 80, Vorbeck: 78 Both men are highly trained cavalry and army men, but Larence outshines Vorbeck due to branching out into tanks and the air force. Leadership: Lawrence: 89, Vorbeck: 79 This is where Lawrence upstages Vorbeck. His crowning moment of awesome was his will to unite the arab tribes and lead them into a revolution against the powerful Ottoman Empire. Vorbeck is a repsected commander, but nowhere near Lawrence's achievement. Notes The Battle will be a 5v5 cavalry/ guerilla fight to the death. Voting will end on March 29 Battle In a dusty abandoned adobe town somewhere in North Africa, two parties of guerilla fighters lined from opposite sides. One side consisted of East Africans led by Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, while the other is led by Lawrence of Arabia with his Arabian guerillas. The two forces were eager to annihilate each other and leave no trace of the enemy to fight back. Vorbeck grabs his binoculars and scans the opposite side. To his surprise he sees Lawrence and his men already aiming there rifles at them. As the Arabians fired, Vorbeck quickly gets back to his cover, almost loosing his head. One of his Africans didn't have time to see the bullet penetrate his skull. Pinned down by heavy rifle fire, Vorbeck instructs his men to unpin their grenades, and together, threw them at the Arabs. One poor Arabian lost both of his leg in the explosion, killing him. Lawrence and the others were thrown by the massive shockwaves, but he quickly gathers his downed men. Vorbeck quickly instructs his Africans to divide in two and envelop the Arabian position from both sides. As they disperse, Vorbeck came across a stunned Arabian, and killed him with a well placed shot to the head with his pistol. As his men finally get to the Arabian position, the place was abandoned. On the other side of Vorbeck's pincer maneuver, the other group of two African soldiers managed to gain upon the retreating Arabians. As they shout their war cry, they charge with bloodlust. But they didn't know that they were in a trap, and the two Africans died a horrible death after Lawrence's satchel charge exploded. Vorbeck sees the explosion, and in an fit, ordered his remaining men to get on their horse and chase Lawrence. They arrived at the scene of murder, but Vorbeck sees no sign of Lawrence's men. Lawrence, from high ground, sees the band of cavalry, and he too ordered his Arabians on their horses on a full frontal assault at the Africans. Both sides finally cross paths with each other, and they quickly fired their guns. One Arabian soldier was shot off his horse and fell down. Vorbeck and his African soldier then pushed towards them. But Lawrence uses his webley to kill Vorbeck's remaining man, leaving him alone in the firefight. Knowing that he's doomed if he can't get out, he quickly turns his horse in a retreat. Lawrence and his remaining Arabian gave chase, but Vorbeck disappeared into the concrete alleyways. As Lawrence and his remaining Arabian ran through the street in search of Vorbeck, the German had already stationed himself on top of a tall house, and kills the Arabian with his rifle. Vorbeck quickly chambers the next round, and fires, killing Lawrence's horse and knocking him to the ground. Lawrence swiftly gets up and ran through a covered alleyway. The now unarmed Lawrence doesn't know where his enemy is, and he can't risk himself to be in the open. Now he's an animal being hunted by a German sniper. Vorbeck curses that he couldn't kill the Britishman fast enough, deciding to sit and wait if his prey would pop his head. Tension was arising, so Lawrence devices a plan to lure the German. He sneakily crawled away from the position he was in, and came across a string of houses tightly knitted like a wall. He planted a line of dynamites, and as he got far, detonated it. The explosion blew each house one by one, catching the attention of Vorbeck. The German thought that the Britishman unwittingly tried to kill him and instead gave away his position to him. Seeing it as advantage, Vorbeck hurriedly sprinted from his high ground towards the burning houses below; his back always hugging a wall for cover. But as Vorbeck moves, Lawrence suddenly sprang from a window and stabs Vorbeck in the ribs. The German shouted in pain as blood flow from his mouth, before pulling a pistol. But Lawrence, who was on top of him, slashes his jambiya, slicing the German's hand, before putting it on his throat. Vorbeck gasps and gurgles in anguish, before Lawrence slowly and forcefully slices his throat. Lawrence then stabs the jambiya on the dead German's breast, before standing up and yells in victory on top of his corpse. Expert's opinion Lawrence won because he had the better rifle and melee weapon than Vorbeck. Even though Vorbeck was more experienced in fighting battles, experts agreed that Lawrence's tactics were more creative in deceiving his enemies. Category:Blog posts